Obasanjo, Akinwumi Adesina to speak at GOTNI Africa leadership conference

The GOTNI Leadership Centre has announced a conference that seeks to produce the next set of visionary leaders.

GOTNI said the deficit of leadership capital in Africa spurred the urgent need for the organisation to host the conference.

The organisation said the leadership gap has been a longstanding challenge and has contributed to the continent’s stagnation and underdevelopment.

“As the most populous black nation in the world and Africa’s giant, Nigeria recognizes the urgency to collaborate with other African countries in charting a new course for a transformed Africa,” Linus Okorie, chief executive officer (CEO) of GOTNI Leadership Centre, said in a statement on Friday.

Okorie said the conference aims to convene thought leaders, policymakers, business moguls, and changemakers from across Africa and the diaspora to deliberate on strategies for nurturing a new generation of leaders.

Aside from interactive panel discussions and immersive workshops, he said the conference will also explore leadership across key dimensions, including business, politics, healthcare, education, and leveraging technology for development.

Sam Hart, chief operating officer at the leadership centre said: “Our goal is to inspire a new generation of leaders for Africa, bridge the gap between Africans at home and abroad, and establish a new leadership culture that fosters socioeconomic development across the continent”.

The inaugural edition of the conference is set to be held on May 17 and 18 at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, Ghana and will have “Transformational leadership, the panacea for Africa’s rising” as its theme.

According to the statement, keynote speakers will include former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB); Mabel Bello, judge of the federal high court; George Fraser, chairman and CEO of FraserNet, Inc.; and Prof. P.LO. Lumumba, chairman, PLO Lumumba Foundation.